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This is a very deep cut of the Harry Potter series - the overarching plot uses Voldemort as the framework rather than Harry - essentially creating the trilogy as:
- Introducing Voldemort
- Resurrecting Voldemort
- Defeating Voldemort
Obviously most of the story still revolves around the Harry/Hermoine/Ron trio, but at the end of the day the overarching plot beats are driven by the Voldemort story more closely than the very scattershot approach of the original film series where it felt like Voldemort was intertwined with Harry but randomly popped up here and there - my edit is more tightly structured.
This does make some significant changes from the original though, Harry is more of an accidental hero than a horcrux with a special bond destined to defeat Voldemort. The scar storyline has been cut, and the number of horcruxes are never mentioned, though obviously the trio does hunt down a few of them. This is vaguely explained by the mention that Dumbledore showed Harry how to find them, and sort of seen when he locates the one in the Room of Requirement by the snake sounds it makes.
When I originally made a rough cut a year or two ago I started with some very deep cuts to the films, getting rid of anything I didn’t personally enjoy (most of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, and other heavy cuts to the rest of the films to bring it from 19.75 hours down to 6.5 hours). The end result was narratively uneven, but this remaster kills some darlings cutting an additional hour and makes the narrative flow much better. I was a bit sad to lose chasing the sorcerer’s stone, I really liked the feel of those few challenges, it was an excellent adventure vibe. But ultimately the villain at the end was super lame and the mirror thing was anticlimactic so I just disposed of it in favor of a more focused approach that works much better.
The last film in the trilogy is still somewhat dark/somber, but not nearly as slow as it was in the original two-part finale to the series. And overall the series is a bit kinder, I’ve removed a lot of the bullying/slurs plotlines because I didn’t really feel like the tone fit what I enjoyed about the series, at the end of the day it’s kid/teen fantasy that doesn’t really need to delve into serious issues.
Here’s a cliptrailer: https://bestedit.net/trailer/Harry.Potter.2001-2011.Trailer.1080p.webm
PM, or Email me for info on how to get the edit
Below is the high-level edit list:
EP1
- cut some of Harry’s home life before going off to school, just the bare essentials
- cut all emphasis on Harry’s Z scar, the backstory of him being a horcrux and the connection to Voldemort is gone
- cut the Philosopher’s Stone storyline, mostly keep the worldbuilding - introductions to the characters and school flavor stuff
- cut most of the Quidditch stuff, it’s mentioned in passing but Harry playing isn’t shown
- cut Dobby, and book shopping for second school year
- cut Polyjuice Potion adventures
+ primarily focus on the Chamber Of Secrets main narrative
EP2
- cut Sirius Black and almost all of the POA film, only keep a couple scenes as filler
- cut Alastor Moody secretly being a Polyjuice bad guy, keep him as a normal mentor
- cut a lot of the dating and teen stuff
+ primarily focus on the Goblet Of Fire main narrative
EP3
- cut the visit to the Ministry Of Magic and the trial
- cut the Umbridge storyline along with most of OOTP, keep a few transitional scenes
+ keep Draco’s mission, a lot of the crucial Voldemort backstory from HBP, and some of the flavor scenes
+ focus heavily on the times when the trio is alone in DH1/DH2, cut the dating and family stuff
- cut the bank heist
- cut a lot of shots of the big trolls during the final battle, felt too much like LOTR rather than Harry Potter
- cut Snape’s redemption
- cut Dumbledore dream sequence
- cut the “years later” stuff
+ primarily focus on a condensed DH1/DH2 narrative with a good dash of HBP for flavor
Alternate cover art - I thought this one was cute but not really appropriate vibe for the main cover of my series:
